‘Firms are saying Mansfield is the place to be’

Mansfield is a ‘“place to be” according to business leaders in the town.

As part of your Chad’s Putting Mansfield on the Map campaign,’ which aims to promote regeneration in the district, we asked local business leaders what the areas future could look like.

Russell Jones, chairman of Mansfield and Ashfield 2020 business development group and a partner at Hopkins Solicitors, said he can see a “positive change” in Mansfield.

He said:“We would support a continued growth campaign for attracting new business and investment into the area.

“We would like to see continued funding to change the established view that is wrongly held that Mansfield is somehow somewhere not to be proud of.

“Part of that is the change we can see is the changing skills of the local people.

“We now have schools, colleges and now a university that all want to assist businesses by producing employees with skills are focused on their future lives, both in soft and hard skills, which help make the whole area a better place to work in and live in.

“We are proud to support numerous businesses and companies in the area.

“They tell us it is the place to be and there is a definite change in the air for how Mansfield is perceived by local people and others coming into the area.

“Nowhere is ever perfect, but we can see a positive change and more and more people are saying what’s good about the area, rather than what is bad.”

Charles Cannon, director of Ransomwood Estates, which owns Ransom Wood Business Park, has said the district should be looking to “hi-tech, clean industries” in the future.

He said: “We mustn’t sell ourselves short by accepting more dirty industries and low quality employers into our midst.

“We should be looking to hi-tech, clean industries which will help up-skill our communities.

“Our change in mayor and MP have given us the opportunity to turnover a clean sheet and perhaps shown an emotional strength in the north of the county, where sustained investment has been sorely lacking for the past 10 or so years.

“For too long, we have been the housing estate for Nottingham and throttled by lack of investment in our local rail service to the North and West.

“It’s time we saw quality infrastructural investment and a calm, measured approach to development, where our villages are allowed to connect with, rather than be consumed by, Mansfield’s urban sprawl.”

Have your say on Mansfield by completing our survey – see bit.ly/2mLu58D